COVID-19 vaccine rollout ramps up

From 16 September, the Federal Government has made Pfizer available to patients aged 60 and over. This cohort of Queenslanders will be able to access the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at their GP.

From this Saturday 18 September, patients over 60 years will also be able to access the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Queensland Health’s 80 vaccination locations and many general practices.

Similar to New South Wales and Victoria, the expectation is that the COVID-19 will sweep through Queensland and that we will be exposed to COVID-19 in coming months.

Queensland needs to act now to increase its capacity to get a minimum of 80 per cent of the population vaccinated as a matter of urgency. To do this we need every general practice participating in the vaccine rollout.

The good news is that Queenslanders now have access to their choice of vaccine and we encourage our members to promote as much uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine as possible. The Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has asked us to please ensure all vaccine appointments are filled and that patients presenting for regular appointments are provided with advice on the importance of vaccination.

More than 5,000 general practices are critical partners in Australia's COVID-19 Vaccine National Rollout Strategy and AMA Queensland encourages all of our GPs to get involved in the COVID-19 roll out and subsequent booster program, if they are not already. Sign up to be a COVID-19 vaccine provider now by contacting your local Primary Health Network.